IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) is live in most of the world and coming soon to the United States.

This course is intended for financial professionals who are familiar with GAAP and wants to familiarize themselves with IFRS. Anyone working within the accounting field in Canada needs to be just as comfortable with IFRS as they are with GAAP. In the United States, since IFRS is the driving force behind the convergence of accounting standards, a knowledge of the key facets of IFRS is helpful to understand the future direction of accounting.

The objective of this seminar is to teach participants about the major differences between IFRS and GAAP.

At the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:

Increase their confidence and readiness for dealing with IFRS

Understand the similarities between IFRS and GAAP

Learn the main differences between IFRS and GAAP

Feel comfortable with the journal entries required under IFRS

Know where to look for more information on IFRS as it becomes available

Topics covered

Overview of IFRS

Key differences between IFRS and GAAP

Plant, Property, and Equipment (IAS 16)

Component accounting (IAS 16)

Cost vs Revaluation model (IAS 16)

Depreciation (IAS 16)

Investment Property and Fair Value model (IAS 40)

Intangible Assets (IAS 38)

Impairment of Assets (IAS 36)

Reversals of impairments (IAS 36)

Cash Generating Units (CGUs) (IAS 36)

Capitalization of interest (IAS 23)

Inventories (IAS 2)

Leases (IAS 17 / new rules IFRS 16)

Contingent Liabilities and Provisions(IAS 37)

Other impacts to assets, liabilities, equity, and P&L

Rules related to first-time adoption of IFRS (IFRS 1)

General rules

Optional exemptions

Mandatory exceptions

Ongoing changes to IFRS

Where to stay updated on IFRS and where to get more information

Workshop format

This workshop is highly interactive. Participants will learn the international financial reporting standards by working through exercises and examples which compare journal entries under GAAP to the journal entries under IFRS. This workshop will also present financial information from public companies which shows the impact on the financial statements of using different accounting standards.

Who will benefit

This course is intended for individuals who are familiar with GAAP and are looking to understand the differences between current accounting practices and the new ones advocated by IFRS. This course is oriented toward people preparing financial statements, in whole or in part.